Brussels – The Eurpean Parliament has unanimously said its supports the Ukrainians protesters on the Euromaidan.
As a correspondent of Interfax-Ukraine reported, during the plenary session in Strasbourg on Tuesday, MEPs criticized both the European Union and Russia.
They said it was necessary for the EP to play a definite role in the settlement the political crisis, as well as in the police of the Eatsern Partnership.
The debate regarding the Ukrainian issue in general was calm.
European Parliament Vice-President Jacek Protasiewicz said that the European Parliament “should support those who took to the streets to restore a dilaogue concerning the Association Agremeent.”
“It’s important that the agreement is on the table and can be signed,” he said.
Similar statements were expressed by almost all of the participants in the debate.
MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (European People’s Party) said that Ukraine “is a key issue for Europe.”
“We clearly envisaged it in the resolution,” he said.
“We must express sympathy with the Ukrainians. And we’ll give them a hope in this way,” the MEP added.
The politician said that a roundtable should find a way out of the crisis, since “the Ukrainian government opposed the Association Agreement in Vilnius.”
His colleague in EPP Elmar Brok, in turn, said that “it is up to Ukraine what choice to make, not Russia.”
“This is a violation of international law [Moscow’s use of trade pressure on Ukraine]. We’re opening the door for you,” he said.
British member of the ALDE group Graham Watson was more specific in his statements. He said the EP should get involved in settlement of the political crisis in Ukraine.
“We must be more constructive and speak more openly about the bull in a china shop – about Russia – and send a full-scale mission to Kyiv to protect the European future of the country.”
Wearing the Ukrainian flag on her shoulders, German Co-chairperson of the Green group Rebecca Harms, called on the EU to act: “Europe’s role is to confront and prevent this escalation of violence and make sure there will be negotiations.”
Ryszard Legutko, a Polish member of the ECR group, called the Eastern Partnership a “humiliating failure”: “Russia won, the EU lost,” he said.
The politician said Brussels has never treated Ukraine as a strategic lon-term partner.
Pawel Kowal, a Polish member of the ECR group and chair of the delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, said: “I was with the young students at the Euromaidan last night. We can turn to them and say we’re opening the door to you, don’t worry.”
